An Adelaide father and former OMC member has lost his fourth bid to stay in Australia, after spending more than three years in immigration detention.
Key points:
- Paul Burgess was born in the UK and migrated to Australia with his parents when he was a toddler
- The Federal Government stripped him of permanent residency over his OMC membership in 2016
- Mr Burgess has made repeated attempts to fight deportation, and is now considering a High Court appeal
The full bench of the Federal Court has dismissed Paul Burgess’ appeal after a failed application for judicial review of the Federal Government’s decision to cancel his visa.
The decision means Mr Burgess has now exhausted all avenues for appeal in the Federal Court, and he and his family are now considering their options of an appeal to the High Court.
The Federal Government first stripped Mr Burgess, who was born in the United Kingdom, of permanent residency in June 2016, as part of a nationwide push to deport serious criminals who did not hold citizenship.
The revocation was initially based on his two-month membership of the Comanchero Motorcycle Club.
He has previously told the ABC that he joined the Comanchero OMC after a high school friend urged him to.
Mr Burgess was convicted of robbery and common assault in 2003 and was sentenced to 15 months in prison.
In their reasons for judgment, Federal Court justices Richard White and Natalie Charlesworth noted that Mr Burgess was characterised by the Federal Government as a “recidivist offender who has a significant number of varying convictions, including offences of violence and offences committed against police officers”.
“Mr Burgess has a ‘substantial criminal record’,” they stated.
“He is a person who does not and cannot pass the character test.”
‘Paul’s not a bikie,’ partner says
Mr Burgess has been fighting deportation for more than three years, successfully appealing against his initial visa cancellation in September 2016.
On that same day, some 30 minutes later, then immigration minister Peter Dutton cancelled his residency visa a second time, on the grounds that he failed the character test based on his criminal record.
Mr Burgess, who migrated with his parents to Australia when he was a toddler in 1986, then appealed to the full bench of the Federal Court to fight his deportation.
In February 2018, Mr Burgess argued the department had made an administrative error and won his appeal against the cancellation.
Mr Burgess was due to fly home from Christmas Island to his fiancee Megan Ferris and young son in Adelaide the following day, but he never made it past the detention centre gates.
In 2017, Ms Ferris told the ABC’s 7.30 program her partner was “not a bikie”.
“I don’t believe someone who’s been one for two months could be classified a key member,” she said.
“Has he killed someone? Is he a national threat? No. Is he a drug dealer? No. Is he the face of organised crime? No. Has he made poor decisions, and done stupid things? Yes, and he will say yes he has.”
Mr Burgess’s criminal history means the Federal Government had grounds to argue he does not meet the character test outlined in the Migration Act.
Since the Migration Act was amended in 2014 — which increased the provisions of the character test — more than 4,000 visas have been cancelled.
The Federal Court previously dismissed Mr Burgess’s application for judicial review of the Federal Government’s decision to cancel his visa in February.
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Source: ABC